If you love our beautiful sport, and if you love your child, the Pinarello Kui is the only bike you’d ever permit them to ride from ages 7-14.The Pinarello Kui will be the bedrock lesson of their life: Even if their legs and lungs top out at Cat 3-quality, looking PRO is every bit as important as actually being fast. This is a kids bike, sure, but its Pinarello style comes through stunningly.The Kui is made from triple-butted 6061 T6 aluminum, basically the same stuff pros were winning the Tour de France on in the late 90’s.The fork is made from the same 6061 alu, painted to match.The component package is Shimano Tiagra 9-speed, and the saddle, seatpost, bar, stem, crankset, wheels are all Pinarello Most.Since the wheels are 24” they’ll fit kids from age 7 or 8, all the way ‘til they’re ready for a grown-up sized road bike when they’re 14-ish.This bike is serious business, and all you’ll need to add is a bottle cage and pedals.Retails @ $ 1200.-

Pinarello based the FP3 Dura Ace Road Bike on its world-famous Prince model,only using slightly heavier 30HM12K carbon fiber to bring down the price.The FP3 shares the same geometry as the Prince and has a monocoque front triangle bonded to a rear triangle and wide fork blades that increase stiffness and control up front.Pinarello hit this eye-catching bikes frame with a selection of gorgeous hand-painted color schemes.This gorgeous Pinarello FP3 Dura Ace retails at $5500.-She is waiting for you on the floor@PRECISION BIKES

Like the smart bike builders they are, Fausto Pinarello and co. refined the designs of the now famous Prince and for 2009 have released the FP3 to appeal to that majority of cyclists who don’t buy $5000+ bikes, but still want the quality and heritage of a high end Euro road rig. The FP3 was launched for 2009 as a more affordable version of their popular Prince carbon frameset – ridden by pro Tour team Caisse d’Epargne. It shares geometry with the Prince and Dogma, while frame materials and build kits differ. Most importantly, it’s a chance to get on a fully equipped Pinarello for under $4000. Prices vary according to build kit, but versions offered include Shimano DA7800/ Ultegra, Campy Centaur, and coming soon a Dura-Ace 7900 version.Like most of the Treviso, Italy brand’s frames, the FP3 is traditional geometry – non-sloping top tubes, and slightly longer bikes than many of today’s popular compact designs. (The exceptions are a couple of the smallest sizes in the line up).

The FP3 joins a number of manufacturers with a 1-1/4 inch bearing at the headtube bottom (1-1/8 at the top), allowing a larger platform to anchor the forks and brace the front end where a lot of stress is taken. Pinarello’s US distributor Gita Bike reports the bell-shaped headtube does more than just look cool, adding both strength and smoothing the airflow at the front.Like most performance tilted bikes these days, the whole bottom bracket unit is pretty beefy – the downtube is massive, and carries that girth along it’s full length, even flaring to almost full width of the bb shell at the bottom. Each tube on the bike is shaped with purpose in mind- to deliver power to the road while allowing enough comfort to make it rideable. The seat tube is the only round tube on the frame, and hosts a traditionally fitted seatpost.This bike is not a bike of performance extremes – not the nimblest climber, the fastest descender, smoothest rouleur, or quickest handler. It does dose out a solid measure of performance in each category, and all with one of the coolest names in road cycling painted on the top tube.

After a broken leg sidelined his competitive softball playing, Mark Miller’s exercise routine took a different direction. During rehab, the athlete turned to swimming to ease the pressure on his joints. Next, he added cycling and running to his regimen, becoming a world-class triathlete. Eventually, that led to Miller opening his own custom bike shop, Precision Bikes, which recently moved to a bigger space at 114 Rena Drive.

Photo by Robin May

Mark Miller

Miller’s transition from workout warrior to self-made businessman took several years of intensive training, competing and networking.Twenty-two years ago, the then 34-year-old competed in his first long-distance race with a group of about 20 local triathletes. Gradually, Miller pulled ahead of the pack, putting 50 half-Ironmans, 27 full-Ironmans and 15 marathons under his belt, including Ironman Roth in Germany and Escape from Alcatraz. In 2010, he reached the pinnacle of the triathlete class, competing in both the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and the Isklar Norsemen Xtreme Triathlon in Norway.“The Norsemen was the hardest one for me,” Miller says. “I ended up having to spend 9.5 hours on the bike that day before I started running the 26 miles. It took me right at 15 hours to finish.”Along the way, Miller befriended John Cobb, owner of Cobb Cycling in Tyler, Texas, who had worked with some of the world’s greatest cyclists including Lance Armstrong and Greg LeMond. “John Cobb taught me the most about cycling and the wind tunnel,” Miller says. “I owe a lot to him for taking me under his wing.”For a while, Miller trekked to Cobb’s Shreveport cycling shop every weekend to work. “I just wanted to learn the cycling business, and I chased it for a long time,” Miller explains. After a few years, Cobb offered Miller a full-time job running his main warehouse. A year later, Miller decided to return home to open his own store.With the help of close buddies Frank Camalo and Dr. George Sobiesk, Miller launched Precision Bikes in a small space at 3214 Johnston St. in April 2004. Another long-time friend and co-cyclist, Ruud Vuijsters, designed Miller’s website. Miller quickly became known for his custom-made bikes and personalized fittings. “I feel that I’m more of a destination place now,” Miller says. “Most of what I sell is for the racer, whether it is for the road or a triathlon.”As demand grew for his customized services, Miller decided to expand to a larger location.Last year, Miller opened at his new spot on114 Rena Drive. His longtime employee, Amanda Shone, came with him, along with two part-time repairmen. The 3,500-foot space has two repair stations up front and one in the rear; a showroom with racing and cruising bikes, athletic wear, shoes and accessories and a private room for bike fittings. Bike brands include QR, Cervelo, Felt, Colnago, Pinarello, BMC, Specialized and Linus. Clothing lines include Louis Garneau, Zoot, Coeur, Soas and 2XU. For shoes, Precision Bikes carries Sidi, Louis Garneau, Mavic, Specialized and Shimano.Precision Bikes is Fit Institute Slowtwitch (F.I.S.T.), John Cobb and Retül certified, allowing Miller to custom-fit triathletes with cycles that move along with racers’ bodies. “I guess the thing that I offer that nobody else does is the fitting experience by positioning people on bikes,” Miller says. “Cycling is my passion now. I love going to work.”Miller’s reputation in the cycling world grew quickly, attracting customers from throughout Louisiana as well as Texas and Mississippi.Many professional triathletes have dropped by Precision Bikes, including Chris McDonald, Linsey Corbin, Anna Cleaver and world champions Chris McCormack and Miranda Carfrae. Pros have also taught Miller’s cycling camps in Lafayette and Mississippi.Now that Miller is living his passion, his next goal is to complete the toughest challenge of them all — the USA Ultra Triathlon. Held in Tampa, Fla., this grueling double ironman consists of a 4.8-mile freshwater swim, 224-mile bike course and 52.4-mile run course. Athletes have 36 hours to complete the race.At 55, Miller shows no signs of slowing down. “I am the last one of the 20 racers that started with me 22 years ago,” he says in his laid-back, unassuming manner. “I’m now training with guys in their 20s.”Precision Bikes is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and closed Wednesday and Sunday. All fittings by appointment only. For more information, call (337) 981-7686, e-mail markmiller@precisionbikes.com or visit the website at precisionbikes.com.